It was a small story in the back of the nation’s sports sections. It was easy to miss.
It wouldn’t have been if they had appropriately put it inside a black box.
Yes, news that the proposal for the popular plus-one format was rejected at the Bowl Championship Series meetings last Wednesday seemed worthy of an obituary.
To the six major BCS conferences, year-round debates are apparently good for college football.
Never mind that since the BCS format began in 1998, four of five seasons from 2000-04 ended with serious questions over who should be No. 1.
Instead of the current format in which the top two teams in the final BCS standings meet for the national title, a plus-one format would pit No. 1 vs. No. 4 and No. 2 vs. No. 3, with the two winners playing a week later.
The thrashing at the meetings — the Atlantic Coast Conference was the only league in favor — means a plus-one won’t be a possibility until at least the 2014 season, when ABC’s contract with the Rose Bowl expires.
Plus-one is actually losing ground. While four conference commissioners promised to be open-minded, nearly all have fallen in lock step with the Pac-10 and Big Ten, which are tied to the Rose Bowl. The archaic Grandpops of Them All would rather have a Washington State- Iowa matchup than a game for the national title.
The commissioners sound as if a plus-one would lead to a playoff in which the only nonparticipants are losing teams in the Sun Belt.
“I know that’s what a lot of fans don’t want to hear,” Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese said, “but they’re not responsible for crafting what we have in college football.”
The commissioners, backed wholeheartedly by university presidents, have benefited from recent perfect storms.
In the last three title games — Ohio State vs. LSU, Ohio State vs. Florida and USC vs. Texas — the dominoes fell right. Few argued with the pairings.
If plus-one had been in place last season, No. 1 Ohio State would’ve played No. 4 Oklahoma and No. 2 LSU would’ve played No. 3 Virginia Tech, a rematch of LSU’s rout in September.
But do we really want Nebraska or Oklahoma getting title shots after getting blown out in their previous games again or Auburn going 12-0 and being left out?
No.
Well, tough.
